The F1 circus returns to Europe and the infamous Imola circuit, which also doubles as the first Sprint race weekend of the season. Our thoughts and quick review of the fourth race of the season and the first sprint race of 2022 is here with our 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary
Our review covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to in the laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend.
The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up on Monday morning.
And why not check out our Australian Grand Prix Power Rankings which highlight our driver of the season so far and the last race.
2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Sprint Race
THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the sprint race live? The bite sized race has a bite sized summary below, much like our usual race summary but smaller.
Lap 0 – The first of the sprint races is here for the season.
GRID – VER LEC NOR MAG ALO RIC PER BOT VET SAI
Lap 1 – Charles Leclerc outdrags Max Verstappen off the line and takes the lead into the first corner. Sergio Perez makes a good start from seventh to climb to fourth temporarily and battle Magnussen for 4th. Fernando Alonso falls back behind Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo and Magnussen came very close to touching or actually did. Talk of touching Guanyu Zhou and Pierre Gasly clash on the first lap, the Alfa driver is in the wall and out, the Alpha Tauri has a busted tyre and front wing. For the record Lewis Hamilton’s lowly 13th grid position was downgraded to 15th on lap one.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED to clean up the Alfa Romeo.
ORDER – LEC VER NOR MAG PER RIC ALO SAI VET BOT
Lap 4 – SAFETY CAR ENDS
Leclerc restarts nice and early after the Safety Car buggers off and keeps his lead. Magnussen gets a black and white flag for weaving. Not much order change throughout the field.
Lap 6 – Carlos Sainz makes the local fans happy by getting his Ferrari past Fernando Alonso for 7th.
Lap 8 – Sergio Perez sails past Kevin Magnussen for 4th. DRS makes that move look like Candy from a baby. Looking further back, Mick Schumacher is ahead of Mercedes in 11th, Hamilton is still down in 14th.
Lap 11 – Some movement to make the sprint race worthwhile. Daniel Ricciardo moves up to fifth past Magnussen, while his team mate Lando Norris loses a position to Perez for 3rd.
Lap 14 – Sainz keeps the crowd on their toes by passing Ricciardo for fifth.
ORDER LEC VER PER NOR SAI RIC MAG ALO BOT VET
Lap 16 – Bottas gets by Alonso for 8th and in packed midfield.
Lap 17 – Verstappen is closing in on leader Leclerc and is under a second behind now. He has a sniff into turn one on lap 18 but thinks better of it.
Lap 19 – Max Verstappen is right on Leclerc’s table now. Reminds us of some Michael Schumacher-Alonso days. Further back Sainz steals fourth from Norris, and Bottas takes Magnussen.
Lap 20 – Max Verstappen takes the lead!!! A perfect move into the first corner. Leclerc tyres are stuffed.
FINAL LAP – For some reason the TV cameras focus on the battle for 8th, so not sure of the battle for first. Verstappen wins from Leclerc, Perez, and a great recovery drive from Sainz in 4th.
FINAL ORDER – VER LEC PER SAI NOR RIC BOT MAG
2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Results
THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Lap 0 – It’s a wet track to start the GP, but not raining. So the big question is tyre choice. The safest choice is inters. And it appears that is the way all the drivers have gone.
GRID – VER LEC PER SAI NOR RIC BOT MAG ALO SCH
Lap 1 – Verstappen gets off the grid best and keeps his lead. Team mate Perez passes Leclerc on the approach to the Tamburello chicane. Lando Norris too get past the Ferrari into that turn. Bad start for Ferrari becomes even worse as Carlos Sainz is helped into a spin by Daniel Ricciardo and becomes beached and is the first retirement for a second race running. Daniel Ricciardo keeps going. Bottas gets a front wing nudge too. Further back Mick Schumacher also goes off but continues. George Russel is the big other winner – up to sixth.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
ORDER – VER PER NOR LEC MAG RUS BOT ALO VET TSU
Lap 5 – SAFETY CAR ENDS
Race resumes and the top ten stays as is except for Vettel overtaking Alonso for 8th. A lap later Alonso is down to 12th and has damage. Replays show he has Mick Schumacher to thank. His Alpine is retired for now, but the team look to be working on it regardless.
Word on street is more rain in 20 minutes. Delicious.
Lap 7 – A dryish line continues to appear, drivers are now looking for wet parts of the track to cool tyres down. They probably don’t want to change to slicks because of that potential rain to come.
Verstappen is three seconds ahead of his team mate, with Lando Norris slowing up Charles Leclerc. Further back for British fans, Lewis Hamilton is 11th but can’t get past a Lance Stroll.
Lap 8 – Leclerc gets hearty roar from the Imola crowd by nailing Lando Norris into the first chicane. Timely, he was six seconds behind.
Lap 11 – The best battle or the only thing they’re showing on the coverage is George Russell v Kevin Magnussen for 5th.
Lap 12 – George Russel gets past Kevin Magnussen, but then loses the place by the next corner, and now Valtteri Bottas is on hand to take advantage. Unless Russell crashes into him again. But Russell gets past the man they call K-Mag half a lap later at the Variante Alta, a place not known for overtaking. Bottas is challenging Magnussen too and gets past the next lap. Wonder what Lewis Hamilton thinks of Russell and Bottas’ lofty position compared to him.
Lap 16 – Wondering about Daniel Ricciardo? He’s still last and three seconds behind Mick Schumacher. He pits on lap 17 for Medium slicks. At least his race is now interesting.
ORDER – VER PER LEC NPR RUS BOT MAG VET TSU STR
Lap 18 – Some more drivers pit for dry tyres, copying Daniel Ricciardo who is going faster but not spectacularly so.
Lap 19 – Sergio Perez is the first of the front runners to pit for dry tyres. Russell, Bottas and Magnussen follow suit. Bottas has trouble with a tyre and loses time. Ocon and Hamilton clash in the pit lane with no damage. Pretty bad release from Alpine on Ocon.
Lap 20 – Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc pit for dry tyres. Leclerc has overtaken Perez out of the pitlane. But Perez gets past a corner later on warmer tyres. Game on though for second.
ORDER – VER PER LEC NOR RUS BOT VET MAG TSU STR
Lap 25 – Disappointingly, looks like there’s no more rain to be had. At least Mick Schumacher has the generosity to spin off for neutral interest and spin fans. Coverage is focused on a group of cars nose to tail from 9th (Tsunoda) to 15th (Ricciardo). There’s not much else happening.
Lap 29 – Sergio Perez does some high speed lawn mowing but holds onto second place.
Lap 32 – Daniel Ricciardo pits for hard tyres in case you were asking. He rejoins last. Talking of fallen heroes, Lewis Hamilton can’t get past Pierre Gasly, for 14th.
Lap 35 – DRS is now enabled. Which should be fun. We hope. It’s getting late and boring and none of our rain influenced bets are looking any good.
Lap 41 – Max Verstappen laps Lewis Hamilton in 14th. That’ll make him happy.
Lap 44 – Better do a lap chart before we snooze off. That’s right, another night time Grand Prix for those in the Asia Pacific region. So all the moaning from UK/Euro based fans and broadcasters on their behalf during the Australian GP is pathetic. They only have to do it twice a season.
ORDER – VER PER LEC NOR RUS BOT VET MAG TSU STR
Lap 48 – Yuki Tsunoda gets past Kevin Magnussen for 8th.
Lap 50 – Leclerc pits for soft tyres. Lando Norris takes his third place as the Ferrari exits the pits. It was brief though, Leclerc gets past next lap. Sergio Perez pits next lap, remains second.
Lap 52 – Not to miss out, Max Verstappen pits for new soft tyres too.
Lap 54 – Charles Leclerc spins!!!! He slides off at the Variante Alta and lightly touches the barrier. He pits for new tyres and a quick check. His mistake drops him all the way down to 9th. Tsunoda takes Vettel for 6th.
ORDER – VER PER NOR RUS BOT TSU VET MAG LEC STR
Lap 59 – Charles Leclerc overtakes Vettel for 7th. Russell v Bottas is the battle of choice for 4th. It may be personal for Bottas after he was dumped at Mercedes in favour of Russell.
FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen wins with ease ahead of his team mate Sergio Perez over 10 seconds away. Lando Norris finished third with the feelgood story. George Russell wins the battle for fourth and Charles Leclerc ends up 6th.
FINAL ORDER – VER PER NOR RUS BOT LEC TSU VET MAG STR
2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Results
RACE RATING
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 6/10
Ferraris are quick, Red Bulls are quick. Merc terrible. Red Bull did a better job here this weekend, but Ferrari made a few mistakes. Is it a one-off or Ferrari feeling the pressure already?
ON TRACK ACTION – 5 /10
It was a reasonably dull race at times, with a lot of vision during coverage of train of cars following each other but not able to overtake.
ENDING 6 / 10
Charles Leclerc spinning into the barrier livened up proceedings towards the end, as did his recovery drive. Easy as you like at the front for Red Bull which was dull. The bonus was the Russell-Bottas battle.
OVERALL RATING 17 / 30
The wet didn’t hang around long enough, not did the threat of new rain. There were a few points of interest like how bad Mercedes were, and there was a little racing, but mainly towards the back or midfield. The wet track and Imola layout didn’t lead to as much action as we like. We are demanding though.
2022 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 Bahrain Grand Prix 26/30
R2 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 21/30
R3 Australian Grand Prix 16/30
2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Results
GREAT & GRAPE OF THE RACE
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
Secures pole position. Wins the sprint race despite losing the lead at the start of the sprint race. Wins the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with ease. His title rival Charles Leclerc is limited to sixth.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
SERGIO PEREZ – Solid performance all weekend from Sergio Perez. Exactly what Red Bull would want. Second place and almost as good as Max Verstappen. Perfect.
LANDO NORRIS – Great start saw him as high as third. Eventually and predictably overtaken by Charles Lerclerc but no one else. But finished race a surprise third place after Charles Leclerc spun. Qualified third and finished Sprint race in fifth, behind the top two teams. That’s without comparing to his team mate.
GEORGE RUSSELL – George Russell made an incredible start and kept out of trouble in the early stages. Got past Magnussen early in the race and kept fifth place to close to the end. Then got a bump up the order thanks to Charles Leclerc spin. And if you compare the comparative position of his team mate (14th) his weekend is even better.
VALTTERI BOTTAS – Another solid weekend for the former Mercedes who is probably happy he is no longer a Mercedes driver. 5th place is a very decent result, and it could have been more battling Russell for 4th for the last part.
YUKI TSUNODA – Sold points finish and didn’t throw it away like usual.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL – Wet tracks seem to wake the former World Champion up, and he had a great weekend when it rained. And when it stopped in the race he did a super job to maintain a points finish.
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – His comeback is still amazing. He was quick in the wet practice and qualifying sessions and held on for points in the race.
ALEX ALBON – An underrated weekend from Albon at Williams.
THE GRAPE-EST – CARLOS SAINZ
Was caught out in qualifying ending up 10th but seemed to make amends in Sprint Qualifying by finishing fourth. Then became the first retirement for a second race running after being nudged into the gravel trap by Ricciardo.
THE GRAPE-EST – LEWIS HAMILTON
It probably doesn’t get much worse for Lewis Hamilton. Poor in qualifying, did nothing in either races. Worst time of his career. We will see how he reacts or doesn’t now.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
DANIEL RICCIARDO – Caused the Carlos Sainz spin off on lap one. Was dead last and going nowhere for a large chunk of the race. Made early pit stop for Slicks. Continued on last for most of the race. His team mate takes a podium, nuff said.
MICK SCHUMACHER – Wasted a lofty grid position with spins and moments.
2022 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated.
